Adsorber cartridge and retainer construction



A ril 5, 1966 v. J. BURKE 3,243,942

ADSORBER CARTRIDGE AND RETAINER CONSTRUCTION Filed May 27, 1965 INVENTOR.

15L :Z BUQ/(E flrraeusys.

United States Patent Office 3,243,942 Patented Apr. 5, 1966 azaaaaz ABSORBER (IARTREFJGE AND anransaa coNsTnUcrloN Val J. Burke, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Burke and gon pany, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of Callornia Filed May 27, 1963, Ser. No. 283,440 2 Claims. (Cl. 55-387) This invention relates generally to air purification and filtration equipment, and more specifically is directed to improvements in cartridges containing adsorbent material and in retainers mounting such cartridges.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention hereinafter described and illustrated in detail, there is provided a retainer consisting of a hollow, generally rectangular frame made of sheet metal or equivalent material. A typical retainer may be 24 inches square, with the side walls extending about 12 inches in depth, although it will be understood that these dimensions may be varied as desired for particular installations. A plurality of such retainers may be mounted in adjacent rows and columns forming an array of any desired size for the air passage or chamber in which the array is installed.

On the inwardly directed opposed faces of the side Walls of the retainer, there are cartridge-mounting means providing a plurality of grooves inclined slightly to the horizontal and extending generally from the front to the rear of the retainer. The grooves in each side wall are arranged in a zigzag configuration from top to bottom, and each groove is aligned with a corresponding groove on the opposite side wall.

Air purifying material of known type, such as activated carbon or the like, is carried in cartridges having perforated walls permitting air flow therethrough. Opposite end portions of each cartridge are received in a pair of grooves in opposite side walls. The cartridges may be easily slid into place from the front of the retainer and are held in place at the front by suitable removable means, desirably including a plurality of transversely extending junction strips and a pair of laterally spaced vertically extending latch bars selectively attachable to the retainer side walls. In the rear the cartridges are similarly held in place.

For maximum eificiency of the adsorbent material contained within the cartridges, it is desirable that such material be compacted as little as possible. In the present construction, compaction of the adsorbent material is minimized both by reason of the relatively slight inclination of the cartridge-supporting grooves of the retainer, and also by the internal construction of the cartridge itself. Thus, within the cartridge there are provided one or more partition strips extending virtually the entire length of the cartridge and thereby, in effect, dividing the interior of the cartridge into several smaller chambers. By this construction, there is very small static pressure upon even the lowermost granules of adsorbent material within each of the cartridge chambers. The cartridges include suitable openings and removable closure means therefor to facilitate periodic removal of the adsorbent material for replacement, recharging or the like.

The construction of the present invention is advantageous also in providing for either full detention or partial detention of the air passing therethrough, at the option of the user. Thus, any one or more of the plurality of cartridges carried by a single retainer may be removed to provide partial detention, or all cartridges may be mounted in place for full detention.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a novel retainer and cartridge construction for air filtration equipment. Additional objects are to provide, in such construction, a generally rectangular retainer having an open interior and means mounted upon opposed side walls for removably carrying adsorbent cartridges; to provide, in such construction, means facilitating the insertion and removal of one or all cartridges from the retainer, as desired; to provide, in such construction, cartridges wherein compaction of the adsorbent material carried within the cartridge is minimized; to provide a very large expanse of adsorbent material for air passage therethrough within a relatively small retainer; and for other and additional purposes as will be understood from a study of the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a retainer and ten cartridges mounted therein in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on a somewhat enlarged scale taken on arrows 2-2 of FIG. 1, with the third and fourth cartridges and the front air seal strip therebetween removed for clarity of illustration.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on arrows 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on arrows 44 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on arrows 55 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a cartridge with portions of the outer wall broken away.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale taken along the arrows 77 of FIG. 1.

Referring in detail to the drawing, there is indicated generally at ill a retainer in accordance with the present invention consisting of a hollow square defined by left and right vertically extending opposed side walls 12 and 14 and horizontal upper and lower walls 16 and 18. The walls are desirably made of sheet metal or material of equivalent characteristics, and two adjacent walls, as 12 and 16, may be provided at their front edges with rearwardly turned lips 13 and 17 respectively for interimgagement with edges of adjacent retainers when arranged in rows and columns to form a 'mul'ti-retainer array.

On the inner faces of the side walls 12 and 14, there are provided means for receiving and supporting adsorbent-containing cartridges. In the present illustrative embodiment of the invention, such means include a pair of matrix plates or strips fastened as by adhesive or the like to the inner faces of the side walls, the matrix Plates being indicated generally at 22 and 24 respectively. The matrix plates may be economically formed of thin sheet plastic material configured as hereinafter described, and desirably the material is so chosen to permit at least some resiliency or yielda'bility, for reasons later appearing. Each matrix plate is configured to provide a series of grooves 32 for receiving end portions of cartridges arranged in zigzag relation from top to bottom of the retainer, the grooves being separated by raised portions or lands. Thus, with particular reference to matrix plate 24 as seen in FIG. 2 upper and lower lands 26 and 23 are desirably in the form of right triangles, and intermediate lands 30 are in the form of isosceles triangles. The apex angles of the isosceles triangles are desirably no more than about 30 and preferably of the order of 20", so that the grooves between successive lands are inclined to the horizontal at angles no greater than 15 and prefer- Hplanes spaced apart by a distance small relative to a dia'bly about The matrix plates are so mounted upon their respective side wallsthat the grooves of one plate are in horizontal alignment with the grooves of the opposite plate. In the present embodiment of the invention, intended to mount a maximum or" 10 cartridges,

there are accordingly 10 such pairs of aligned grooves 332.

mension of either of the major faces. The cartridge may be economically,manufactured by wrapping a sheet of perforated metal clothor the like around a pair of end members, desirably in the form of U-shaped channel strips indicated generally at 46 and 48. One of the chanenl strips, as 46, is provided with one or more filler openings 50 formed in the central web 52 of the channel. The cartridge is desirably strengthened.longitudinally and also divided into a plurality of internal chambers by one or more partition strips, there being two such strips 54 and 56 in the cartridges of the present invention. The strips extend. at least a substantial portion of the length of the cartridge and are joined as by tack weld or the like, to the channel member 48 at one end and may terminate near the other end at '55 .and 57 respectively,

' spaced somewhat from the channel 46 in which are located the filler openings 59. The partition strips 54 and V 56 extend between the upper andlower faces 4-2 and 44 of the cartridge, so that theinterior of the cartridge is divided into a plurality of at least partially isolated compartments, three in the present illustration, separated except for the gap between the ends 55 and 57 and the channel 46. Closure means in the form of resilient plug members 60 are desirably provided within the channel i spanning the'filler openings 50 and made of rubber or f other easily'compressible substancqso that they are held ,within the channel and close the openings by frictional "engagement with the side walls 51 and 53' of the channel.

The cartridge walls include, in additionto the major faces 42 and 44, side walls 62 and 64, and desirably all walls of the cartridge constitute a single sheet of perforated metal cloth wrapped around and, fastened as by tack 'weld-s' 65 to the channel members 46 and 48 and to strips 54 and 56. The Walls or faces are provided with a multiplicity of perforations 66 for air passage theret-hrough,

small enough in size to retain adsorbent material es within thecartridge. a V

:In detention operation of an air filter in accordance with the present invention, it is desirable to prevent any air from by-passing the cartridges during its flow through the retainer. For. this purpose there are provided across the rear face of the retainer 10 a series of fixed unction strips constituting air seals between adjaa cent cartridges, and a similar, but removable, series of V such strips is provided across the .front face ofthe retainer. Additionally, as will be seen in FIG. 2, the upper wall 16 may be provided at its rear edge with adownwardly depending lip against which the upper end oi the uppermost'cartridge abuts when the cartridge is in place. Similarly, the lower wall 18 may be provided with transversely across the front face of the retainer, and

are removable for permitting insertion and removal of the cartridges as desired. With particular reference to FIG. 7, the junction strip 80 is desirably in the general 4 forrnof a T formed of a single piece of metal folded to form a central tongue portion 99 and two outwardly extending flange portions 92 and 94. From this construction it will be seen that air movement through the retainer is virtually impossible without passing through one of the cartridges 4% The air seal strips 86 in the front'of the retainer are held in place between adjacent converging cartridges as seen in FIGS. 2 and 7 by a pair of laterally spaced vertically extending locking bars, L-shaped in section, indicated generally at 96 and 98, each removably fastened to the side walls 12 and 14 respectively,'as by spring-loaded bayonet fasteners indicated generally at 1% carried by the locking bar flange 102 and'sele ctively engageable (see FIG. 5) with slotted brackets 164 fixed to the retainer side walls. 7 V,

The air seal junction strips 80 including tongue 99 between adjacent cartridges assure full detention operation 7 when all cartridges are in place. When partial detention 7 operation is desired, one or more of the cartridges can be easily removedjso that only part of the air passing through the retainer is treated by the adsorbent material Within the cartridges remaining in the retainer. ,1 It is tion ofthe adsorbent is hence minimized.

Moreover, the cartridges may be easily slid into or'out' of position in the retainer, but once in posi-tiomfthe-air seal tongue between adjacent cartridges serves, to' spread the cartridges slightly apart against the yielding resiliency of'the matrix plate lands 3%. With the car-" tridges thus snugly heldin place, the assembly is .freeof further to be noted that, by reason of the relatively small angle of inclination betweenithe plane of a cartridge and the horizontal, in cooperation with the partition strips 54 and so within the cartridges, the adsorbent material within the cartridge is not'subjecfted to any substantial pressure from the weight of other adsorbent material compacwithin the same compartment or chamber and rattles or other noises in operation, and prevehtionof unintended lay-passing of air is further assured.

Modifications and'changes from the preferred forrnfof the invention heretofore illustrated and described are within the contemplation of the invention, and all such modifications and changes not departing from the spirit of the invention are intended to be embraced within the 'scope of the appended claims. 4

of the side walls including a series of aligned. pair's I of grooves, each groove being slightly inclined tothe' 7 horizontal, successive aligned pairs of groo-vcs from relation;

a thin adsorbent filter elementof elongated rectangular shape having opposite end marginal portions slidably received in each pair of grooves and extending longitudinally across the width of the retainer in aplane determined by the groove inclination, each of said. filter elements comprising a' cartridge having per 1 ,for'ated walls and containing ,granularadsorbent material therein, and a partition strip extending longitudinally the cartridge intermediate thesides thereof for dividing the interior of thecartridge into at least partially isolated compartments.andjthereby to minimizecompac-tion of the adsorbent material; and means carried by the retainer for removably holding said elements in assembled relation in their respective pairs of grooves, including removable junction strips extending the width of the retainer and provided with tongue portions projecting inwardly between marginal side portions of adjacent; filter elements. 7

top to bottom being oppositely inclined in zigz'ag' 2. An adsorbent-containing cartridge for use in an air filter and adapted for air passage therethrough comprising:

a container of perforated sheet material having a pair of parallel major rectangular faces spaced apart by a distance small relative to a dimension of said faces;

a quantity of compactable granular adsorbent material within the container;

and a partition within the cartridge extending between and attached to the material of said faces, the partition extending longitudinally over substantially the length of the cartridge intermediate the sides thereof whereby to divide the interior of the cartridge into substantially isolated compartments and thereby to minimize compacting of said adsorbent material when the cartridge is inclined across its width.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Myers et al 55484 X Link 55484 Slayter et al.

Boyce 55492 X Vokes 55484 X Keyes 55483 X Shuler 55387 Summerhill 55492 X Thompson 55481 X Scott 55492 X Rivers et a1 55484 X 15 REUBEN FRIEDMAN, Primary Examiner.

J. ADEE, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN AIR FILTER ASSEMBLY COMPRISING: A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR HOLLOW RETAINER EXTENDING IN DEPTH LONGITUDINALLY OF THE PATH OF AIR FLOW AND INCLUDING HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED UPPER AND LOWER WALLS AND LATERALLY SPACED VERTICALLY EXTENDING SIDE WALLS; MEANS FORMING GROOVES ON THE INWARDLY DIRECTED FACES OF THE SIDE WALLS INCLUDING A SERIES OF ALIGNED PAIRS OF GROOVES, EACH GROOVE BEING SLIGHTLY INCLINED TO THE HORIZONTAL, SUCCESSIVE ALIGNED PAIRS OF GROOVES FROM TOP TO BOTTOM BEING OPPOSITELY INCLINED IN ZIG-ZAG RELATION; A THIN ADSORBENT FILTER ELEMENT OF ELONGATED RECTANGULAR SHAPE HAVING OPPOSITE END MARGINAL PORTIONS SLIDABLY RECEIVED IN EACH PAIR OF GROOVES AND EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY ACROSS THE WIDTH OF THE RETAINER IN A PLANE DETERMINED BY THE GROOVE INCLINATION, EACH OF SAID FILTER ELEMENTS COMPRISING A CARTRIDGE HAVING PERFORATED WALLS AND CONTAINING GRANULAR ADSORBENT MATERIAL THEREIN, AND A PARTITION STRIP EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY WITHIN THE CARTRIDGE INTERMEDIATE THE SIDES THEREOF FOR DIVIDING THE INTERIOR OF THE CARTRIDGE INTO AT LEAST PARTIALLY ISOLATED COMPARTMENTS AND THEREBY TO MINIMIZE COMPACTION OF THE ADSORBENT MATERIAL; AND MEANS CARRIED BY THE RETAINER FOR REMOVABLY HOLDING SAID ELEMENTS IN ASSEMBLED RELATION IN THEIR RESPECTIVE PAIRS OF GROOVES, INCLUDING REMOVABLE JUNCTION STRIPS EXTENDING THE WIDTH OF THE RETAINER AND PROVIDED WITH TONGUE PORTIONS PROJECTING INWARDLY BETWEEN MARGINAL SIDE PORTIONS OF ADJACENT FILTER ELEMENTS. 